The first step is not choosing a tariff but understanding the framework: insurance is compulsory, the self-employed have three possible routes, and a deadline applies to the decision. Comparing tariffs only makes sense once that framework is clear.
Everyone must be insured — the question is how
Health insurance is compulsory for every resident of Germany. The self-employed choose between voluntary statutory cover and private insurance, and that choice lasts a long time.
✓ Verified: 01/08/2026
WHAT TO DO
› Details and tips
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Max recommends:
I compared two premiums and took the smaller. How it would develop by fifty never crossed my mind — and that was the actual question.
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Lea recommends:
First check whether your activity makes you compulsorily insured. It changes the entire picture and settles half the questions.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I simply have no insurance? ▾
No. The law obliges everyone resident in Germany to hold health cost insurance, and having no policy does not exempt you from contributions: they are charged retrospectively. This is one of the few duties that cannot simply be ignored.
What options does a self-employed person have? ▾
Three: continue voluntarily in the statutory system, move to private insurance, or — for certain activities — remain compulsorily insured. The last applies to some artistic and teaching professions and deserves checking before any calculation.
How long is there to decide? ▾
Once compulsory insurance ends, the law allows a limited period to join voluntarily. Missing it narrows the options and creates a gap that must later be closed retrospectively.
What decides it in the long run? ▾
Not today’s premium but its trajectory: statutory contributions follow income, private ones follow your age and health at entry and rise over the years. What needs comparing is two scenarios across decades, not two figures today.